the first thing parties do to take a democracy to be less democratic hugo chavez who was less democratically elected was take over the press that disagrees with him and shut them down. it's an important debate. on the other hand, you have the president of the united states who has a sworn obligation to uphold the national security. leaks coming out of the military being published in the press about sensitive negotiations with the cia is doing in afghanistan and he has to figure out how to stop those leaks to preserve national security. it's a very, interesting, difficult problem. >> it's fascinating. rick, obviously, off the record conversations happen all the time between the media and government and other entities but they do require a certain benefit of the doubt to have them, correct? >> yes. >> yes or no some? agree with jill's point of view. >> does he receive that to have the off the record conversation? you could argue the attorney general is reaching out to help the press understand how they got to this play. >> i think it's the principle. the principle being we are covering this or